第 7 节
作者:老是不进球      更新:2021-02-19 17:49      字数:9320
  。    。    。    。    。
  Oh; season of changes  of shadow and shine
  September the splendid!
  My song hath no music to mingle with thine;
  And its burden is ended;
  But thou; being born of the winds and the sun;
  By mountain; by river;
  Mayst lighten and listen; and loiter and run;
  With thy voices for ever。
  Rose Lorraine
  Sweet water…moons; blown into lights
  Of flying gold on pool and creek;
  And many sounds and many sights
  Of younger days are back this week。
  I cannot say I sought to face
  Or greatly cared to cross again
  The subtle spirit of the place
  Whose life is mixed with Rose Lorraine。
  What though her voice rings clearly through
  A nightly dream I gladly keep;
  No wish have I to start anew
  Heart fountains that have ceased to leap。
  Here; face to face with different days;
  And later things that plead for love;
  It would be worse than wrong to raise
  A phantom far too vain to move。
  But; Rose Lorraine  ah! Rose Lorraine;
  I'll whisper now; where no one hears
  If you should chance to meet again
  The man you kissed in soft; dead years;
  Just say for once 〃He suffered much;〃
  And add to this 〃His fate was worst
  Because of me; my voice; my touch〃
  There is no passion like the first!
  If I that breathe your slow sweet name;
  As one breathes low notes on a flute;
  Have vext your peace with word of blame;
  The phrase is dead  the lips are mute。
  Yet when I turn towards the wall;
  In stormy nights; in times of rain;
  I often wish you could recall
  Your tender speeches; Rose Lorraine。
  Because; you see; I thought them true;
  And did not count you self…deceived;
  And gave myself in all to you;
  And looked on Love as Life achieved。
  Then came the bitter; sudden change;
  The fastened lips; the dumb despair:
  The first few weeks were very strange;
  And long; and sad; and hard to bear。
  No woman lives with power to burst
  My passion's bonds; and set me free;
  For Rose is last where Rose was first;
  And only Rose is fair to me。
  The faintest memory of her face;
  The wilful face that hurt me so;
  Is followed by a fiery trace
  That Rose Lorraine must never know。
  I keep a faded ribbon string
  You used to wear about your throat;
  And of this pale; this perished thing;
  I think I know the threads by rote。
  God help such love!  To touch your hand;
  To loiter where your feet might fall;
  You marvellous girl; my soul would stand
  The worst of hell  its fires and all!
  To a Mountain
  To thee; O father of the stately peaks;
  Above me in the loftier light  to thee;
  Imperial brother of those awful hills
  Whose feet are set in splendid spheres of flame;
  Whose heads are where the gods are; and whose sides
  Of strength are belted round with all the zones
  Of all the world; I dedicate these songs。
  And if; within the compass of this book;
  There lives and glows ONE verse in which there beats
  The pulse of wind and torrent  if ONE line
  Is here that like a running water sounds;
  And seems an echo from the lands of leaf;
  Be sure that line is thine。  Here; in this home;
  Away from men and books and all the schools;
  I take thee for my Teacher。  In thy voice
  Of deathless majesty; I; kneeling; hear
  God's grand authentic Gospel!  Year by year;
  The great sublime cantata of thy storm
  Strikes through my spirit  fills it with a life
  Of startling beauty!  Thou my Bible art
  With holy leaves of rock; and flower; and tree;
  And moss; and shining runnel。  From each page
  That helps to make thy awful volume; I
  Have learned a noble lesson。  In the psalm
  Of thy grave winds; and in the liturgy
  Of singing waters; lo! my soul has heard
  The higher worship; and from thee; indeed;
  The broad foundations of a finer hope
  Were gathered in; and thou hast lifted up
  The blind horizon for a larger faith!
  Moreover; walking in exalted woods
  Of naked glory; in the green and gold
  Of forest sunshine; I have paused like one
  With all the life transfigured:  and a flood
  Of light ineffable has made me feel
  As felt the grand old prophets caught away
  By flames of inspiration; but the words
  Sufficient for the story of my Dream
  Are far too splendid for poor human lips!
  But thou; to whom I turn with reverent eyes
  O stately Father; whose majestic face
  Shines far above the zone of wind and cloud;
  Where high dominion of the morning is
  Thou hast the Song complete of which my songs
  Are pallid adumbrations!  Certain sounds
  Of strong authentic sorrow in this book
  May have the sob of upland torrents  these;
  And only these; may touch the great World's heart;
  For; lo! they are the issues of that grief
  Which makes a man more human; and his life
  More like that frank exalted life of thine。
  But in these pages there are other tones
  In which thy large; superior voice is not
  Through which no beauty that resembles thine
  Has ever shone。  THESE are the broken words
  Of blind occasions; when the World has come
  Between me and my Dream。  No song is here
  Of mighty compass; for my singing robes
  I've worn in stolen moments。  All my days
  Have been the days of a laborious life;
  And ever on my struggling soul has burned
  The fierce heat of this hurried sphere。  But thou;
  To whose fair majesty I dedicate
  My book of rhymes  thou hast the perfect rest
  Which makes the heaven of the highest gods!
  To thee the noises of this violent time
  Are far; faint whispers; and; from age to age;
  Within the world and yet apart from it;
  Thou standest!  Round thy lordly capes the sea
  Rolls on with a superb indifference
  For ever; in thy deep; green; gracious glens
  The silver fountains sing for ever。  Far
  Above dim ghosts of waters in the caves;
  The royal robe of morning on thy head
  Abides for ever!  Evermore the wind
  Is thy august companion; and thy peers
  Are cloud; and thunder; and the face sublime
  Of blue mid…heaven!  On thy awful brow
  Is Deity; and in that voice of thine
  There is the great imperial utterance
  Of God for ever; and thy feet are set
  Where evermore; through all the days and years;
  There rolls the grand hymn of the deathless wave。
  Araluen
  Take this rose; and very gently place it on the tender; deep
  Mosses where our little darling; Araluen; lies asleep。
  Put the blossom close to baby  kneel with me; my love; and pray;
  We must leave the bird we've buried  say good…bye to her to…day;
  In the shadow of our trouble we must go to other lands;
  And the flowers we have fostered will be left to other hands。
  Other eyes will watch them growing  other feet will softly tread
  Where two hearts are nearly breaking; where so many tears are shed。
  Bitter is the world we live in:  life and love are mixed with pain;
  We will never see these daisies  never water them again。
  。    。    。    。    。
  Here the blue…eyed Spring will linger; here the shining month will stay;
  Like a friend; by Araluen; when we two are far away;
  But; beyond the wild; wide waters; we will tread another shore
  We will never watch this blossom; never see it any more。
  Girl; whose hand at God's high altar in the dear; dead year I pressed;
  Lean your stricken head upon me  this is still your lover's breast!
  She who sleeps was first and sweetest  none we have to take her place!
  Empty is the little cradle  absent is the little face。
  Other children may be given; but this rose beyond recall;
  But this garland of your girlhood; will be dearest of them all。
  None will ever; Araluen; nestle where you used to be;
  In my heart of hearts; you darling; when the world was new to me;
  We were young when you were with us; life and love were happy things
  To your father and your mother ere the angels gave you wings。
  You that sit and sob beside me  you; upon whose golden head
  Many rains of many sorrows have from day to day been shed;
  Who; because your love was noble; faced with me the lot austere
  Ever pressing with its hardship on the man of letters here
  Let me feel that you are near me; lay your hand within mine own;
  You are all I have to live for; now that we are left alone。
  Three there were; but one has vanished。  Sins of mine have made you weep;
  But forgive your baby's father now that baby is asleep。
  Let us go; for night is falling; leave the darling with her flowers;
  Other hands will come and tend them  other friends in other hours。
  After Many Years
  The song that once I dreamed about;
  The tender; touching thing;
  As radiant as the rose without;
  The love of wind and wing:
  The perfect verses; to the tune
  Of woodland music set;
  As beautiful as afternoon;
  Remain unwritten yet。
  It is too late to write them now
  The ancient fire is cold;
  No ardent lights illume the brow;
  As in the days of old。
  I cannot dream the dream again;
  But; when the happy birds
  Are singing in the sunny rain;
  I think I hear its words。